This was a fun little book, and one of the first that I was reading for fun once I moved on to library school. Here is part of what I wrote back when I read it in 2002: >>All the stories were interesting to read, and in some instances, shed further light on the late 19th century and the American literature of that period. I think the book succeeded not only in telling of men like Banvard or Psalmanazar, which it does in bringing to life such persons with good research and clear writing, but also brings in the context and eras in which the people described lived helping thus to explain how some of them were successful, if for a brief time or how certain frauds could work. I always find interesting to look at the societies as much as the people. This is a book I would gladly recommend.
